SAKA / SHAK

Map showing Scythia, including the Indo-Scythian region (modern name Punjab region)

Saka or Sakas / Shak is the name used in Middle Persian and Sanskrit sources for the Scythians, a large group of Eurasian nomads on the Eurasian Steppe speaking Eastern Iranian languages. Modern scholars usually use the term Saka to refer to Iranians of the Eastern Steppe and the Tarim Basin.

Jat clans :

• Shak

Variants of name :

• Saka / Shak

• Saca

• Saka (Persian old), mod.

• Sákai (Ancient Greek)

• Sacae (Latin)

• (Chinese old) Sek, mod. Sai

• Sakai (Pliny the Elder)

• Saka suni (Saka or Scythian sons)

• Scythians

• Indo-Scythians

• Sakaraulai

Mention by Panini :

Shak is mentioned by Panini in Ashtadhyayi under Shandikadi (4.3.92) group.

Shak-Yavanam is mentioned by Panini in Ashtadhyayi.

History :

René Grousset wrote that they formed a particular branch of the "Scytho-Sarmatian family" originating from nomadic Iranian peoples of the northwestern steppe in Eurasia. They migrated into Sogdia and Bactria in Central Asia and then to the northwest of the Indian subcontinent where they were known as the Indo-Scythians. In the Tarim Basin and Taklamakan Desert region of Northwest China, they settled in Khotan and Kashgar which were at various times vassals to greater powers, such as Han China and Tang China.

Modern debate about the identity of the "Saka" is partly from ambiguous usage of the word by ancient, non-Saka authorities.

According to Herodotus, the Persians gave the name "Saka" to all Scythians.

Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus, AD 23–79) claims that the Persians gave the name Sakai only to the Scythian tribes "nearest to them".

The Scythians to the far north of Assyria were also called the Saka suni (Saka or Scythian sons) by the Persians. The Neo-Assyrian Empire of the time of Esarhaddon record campaigning against a people they called in the Akkadian the Ashkuza or Ishhuza.

However, modern scholarly consensus is that the Eastern Iranian language ancestral to the Pamir languages in North India and the medieval Saka language of Xinjiang, was one of the Scythian languages.

Another people, the Gimirrai, who were known to the ancient Greeks as the Cimmerians, were closely associated with the Sakas. In Biblical Hebrew, the Ashkuz (Ashkenaz) are considered to be a direct offshoot from the Gimirri (Gomer).

The Saka were regarded by the Babylonians as synonymous with the Gimirrai; both names are used on the trilingual Behistun Inscription, carved in 515 BC on the order of Darius the Great. These people were reported to be mainly interested in settling in the kingdom of Urartu, later part of Armenia, and Shacusen in Uti Province derives its name from them. The Behistun Inscription initially only gave one entry for saka, they were however further differentiated later into three groups :

• Tthe Saka tigraxauda – "Saka with pointy hats/caps",

• The Saka haumavarga – interpreted as "haoma-drinking saka" but there are other suggestions,

• The Saka paradraya – "Saka beyond the sea", a name added after Darius' campaign into Western Scythia north of the Danube.

• An additional term is found in two inscriptions elsewhere :

• The Saka para Sugdam – "Saka beyond Sugda (Sogdia)", a term was used by Darius for the people who formed the limits of his empire at the opposite end to Kush (the Ethiopians), therefore should be located at the eastern edge of his empire.

• The Saka paradray were the western Scythians (European Scythians) or Sarmatians. Both the Saka tigraxauda and Saka haumavarg are thought to be located in Central Asia east of the Caspian Sea.

• Saka haumavarg is considered to be the same as Amyrgians, the Saka tribe in closest proximity to Bactria and Sogdia. It has been suggested that the Saka haumavarg may be the Saka par Sugdam, therefore Saka haumavarg is argued by some to be located further east than the Saka tigraxauda, perhaps at the Pamir Mountains or Xinjiang, although Syr Darya is considered to be their more likely location given that the name says "beyond Sogdia" rather than Bactria.

In the modern era, the archaeologist Hugo Winckler (1863–1913) was the first to associate the Sakas with the Scyths. John Manuel Cook, in The Cambridge History of Iran, states: "The Persians gave the single name Saka both to the nomads whom they encountered between the Hunger steppe and the Caspian, and equally to those north of the Danube and Black Sea against whom Darius later campaigned; and the Greeks and Assyrians called all those who were known to them by the name Skuthai (Iškuzai). Saka and Skuthai evidently constituted a generic name for the nomads on the northern frontiers.

Persian sources often treat them as a single tribe called the Saka (Sakai or Sakas), but Greek and Latin texts suggest that the Scythians were composed of many sub-groups.

Modern scholars usually use the term Saka to refer to Iranian-speaking tribes who inhabited the Eastern Steppe and the Tarim Basin.

Greek and Persian History :

The Saka people were an Iranian people who spoke a language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. They are known to the ancient Greeks as Scythians and are attested in historical and archaeological records dating to around the 8th century BC.

In the Achaemenid-era Old Persian inscriptions found at Persepolis, dated to the reign of Darius I (r. 522-486 BC), the Saka are said to have lived just beyond the borders of Sogdia. Likewise an inscription dated to the reign of Xerxes I (r. 486-465 BC) has them coupled with the Dahae people of Central Asia. The contemporary Greek historian Herodotus noted that the Achaemenid Empire called all of Scythians as "Saka".

Greek historians wrote of the wars between the Saka and the Medes, as well as their wars against Cyrus the Great of the Persian Achaemenid Empire where Saka women were said to fight alongside their men. According to Herodotus, Cyrus the Great confronted the Massagetae, a people related to the Saka, while campaigning to the east of the Caspian Sea and was killed in the battle in 530 BC. Darius I also waged wars against the eastern Sakas, who fought him with three armies led by three kings according to Polyaenus. In 520–519 BC, Darius I defeated the Saka tigraxauda tribe and captured their king Skunkha (depicted as wearing a pointed hat in Behistun). The territories of Saka were absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire as part of Chorasmia that included much of the Amu Darya (Oxus) and the Syr Darya (Jaxartes) and the Saka then supplied the Achaemenid army with large number of mounted bowmen.

They were also mentioned as among those who resisted Alexander the Great's incursions into Central Asia.

Sakas in the Ili valley and Bactria :

The Saka were known as the Sak or Sai in ancient Chinese records. These records indicate that they originally inhabited the Ili and Chu River valleys of modern Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. In the Book of Han, the area was called the "land of the Sak", i.e. the Saka. The exact date of the Sakas' arrival in the valleys of the Ili and Chu in Central Asia is unclear, perhaps it was just before the reign of Darius I. Around 30 Saka tombs in the form of kurgans (burial mounds) have also been found in the Tian Shan area dated to between 550–250 BC. Indications of Saka presence have also been found in the Tarim Basin region, possibly as early as the 7th century BC.

The Saka were pushed out of the Ili and Chu River valleys by the Yuezhi, thought by some to be Tocharians. An account of the movement of these people is given in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian. The Yuezhi, who originally lived between Tängri Tagh (Tian Shan) and Dunhuang of Gansu, China, were assaulted and forced to flee from the Hexi Corridor of Gansu by the forces of the Xiongnu ruler Modu Chanyu, who conquered the area in 177-176 BC. In turn the Yuezhi were responsible for attacking and pushing the Sai (i.e. Saka) west into Sogdiana, where around 140 and 130 BC the latter crossed the Syr Darya into Bactria. The Saka also moved southwards towards to the Pamirs and northern India where they settled in Kashmir, and eastwards to settle in some of the oasis city-states of Tarim Basin sites like Yanqi (Karasahr) and Qiuci (Kucha). The Yuezhi, themselves under attacks from another nomadic tribe the Wusun in 133-132 BC, moved again from the Ili and Chu valleys and occupied the country of Daxia ("Bactria").

The ancient Greco-Roman geographer Strabo noted that the four tribes that took down the Bactrians in the Greek and Roman account – the Asioi, Pasianoi, Tokharoi and Sakaraulai – came from land north of the Syr Darya where the Ili and Chu valleys are located. Identification of these four tribes varies, but Sakaraulai may indicate an ancient Saka tribe, the Tokharoi is possibly the Yuezhi, and while the Asioi had been proposed to be groups such as the Wusun or Alans.

Grousset wrote of the migration of the Saka: "the Saka, under pressure from the Yueh-chih (Yuezhi), overran Sogdiana and then Bactria, there taking the place of the Greeks. "Then, "Thrust back in the south by the Yueh-chih," the Saka occupied "the Saka country, Sakastana, whence the modern Persian Seistan." According to Harold Walter Bailey, the territory of Drangiana (now in Afghanistan and Pakistan) became known as "Land of the Sakas", and was called Sakastan in the Persian language of contemporary Iran, in Armenian as Sakastan, with similar equivalents in Pahlavi, Greek, Sogdian, Syriac, Arabic, and the Middle Persian tongue used in Turfan, Xinjiang, China. This is attested in a contemporary Kharosthi inscription found on the Mathura lion capital belonging to the Saka kingdom of the Indo-Scythians (200 BC - 400 AD) in North India,[58] roughly the same time the Chinese record that the Saka had invaded and settled the country of Jibin (i.e. Kashmir, of modern-day India and Pakistan).

Migrations of the 2nd and 1st century BC have left traces in Sogdia and Bactria, but they cannot firmly be attributed to the Saka, similarly with the sites of Sirkap and Taxila in ancient India. The rich graves at Tillya Tepe in Afghanistan are seen as part of a population affected by the Saka.

The Shakya clan of India, to which Gautam Buddh, called Sakyamuni "Sage of the Shakyas", belonged, has been suggested to be Sakas by Michael Witzel and Christopher I. Beckwith.

Indo-Scythians :

Main article: Indo-Scythians

The region in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan where the Saka moved to become known as "land of the Saka" or Sakastan. The Sakas also captured Gandhar and Taxila, and migrated to North India. An Indo-Scythians kingdom was established in Mathura (200 BC - 400 AD). Weer Rajendra Rishi, an Indian linguist, identified linguistic affinities between Indian and Central Asian languages, which further lends credence to the possibility of historical Sakan influence in North India. According to historian Michael Mitchiner, the Abhira tribe were a Saka people cited in the Gunda inscription of the Western Satrap Rudrasimha I dated to 181 CE.

Kingdom of Khotan :

The Kingdom of Khotan was a Saka city state in on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin. As a consequence of the Han–Xiongnu War spanning from 133 BCE to 89 CE, the Tarim Basin (now Xinjiang, Northwest China), including Khotan and Kashgar, fell under Han Chinese influence, beginning with the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141-87 BC). The region once again came under Chinese suzerainty with the campaigns of conquest by Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626-649). From the late eighth to ninth centuries, the region changed hands between the rival Tang and Tibetan Empires. However, by the early 11th century the region fell to the Muslim Turkic peoples of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, which led to both the Turkification of the region as well as its conversion from Buddhism to Islam. A document from Khotan written in Khotanese Saka, part of the Eastern Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, listing the animals of the Chinese zodiac in the cycle of predictions for people born in that year; ink on paper, early 9th century.

Archaeological evidence and documents from Khotan and other sites in the Tarim Basin provided information on the language spoken by the Saka. The official language of Khotan was initially Gandhari Prakrit written in Kharosthi, and coins from Khotan dated to the 1st century bear dual inscriptions in Chinese and Gandhari Prakrit, indicating links of Khotan to both India and China. Surviving documents however suggest that an Iranian language was used by the people of the kingdom for a long time Third-century AD documents in Prakrit from nearby Shanshan record the title for the king of Khotan as hinajha (i.e. "generalissimo"), a distinctively Iranian-based word equivalent to the Sanskrit title senapati, yet nearly identical to the Khotanese Saka hinaysa attested in later Khotanese documents. This, along with the fact that the king's recorded regnal periods were given as the Khotanese, "implies an established connection between the Iranian inhabitants and the royal power," according to the Professor of Iranian Studies Ronald E. Emmerick. He contended that Khotanese-Saka-language royal rescripts of Khotan dated to the 10th century "makes it likely that the ruler of Khotan was a speaker of Iranian." Furthermore, he argued that the early form of the name of Khotan, hvatana, is connected semantically with the name Saka.

Later Khotanese-Saka-language documents, ranging from medical texts to Buddhist literature, have been found in Khotan and Tumshuq (northeast of Kashgar). Similar documents in the Khotanese-Saka language dating mostly to the 10th century have been found in the Dunhuang manuscripts.

Although the ancient Chinese had called Khotan Yutian, another more native Iranian name occasionally used was Jusadanna, derived from Indo-Iranian Gostan and Gostana, the names of the town and region around it, respectively.

Sakas in Mahabharat :

Shak have been mentioned in mentioned in various verses of Mahabharat (II.47.19), (II.47.26), (II.48.15), (III.48.20), (V.19.21), (V.158.20), (VI.10.43), (VI.10.50), (VI.20.13), (VI.52.7), (VIII.51.18)

Shaks brought Tributes to Yudhishthir :

Sabha Parv, Mahabharat / Book II Chapter 47 mentions the Kings who brought tributes to Yudhishthir. ....Sakas were mentioned in verse (II.47.19) with other tribes, bringing tribute to Yudhishthir. Numberless Chinas and Sakas and Uddras and many barbarous tribes living in the woods, and many Vrishnis and Harahuns, and dusky tribes of the Himavat, and many Nipas and people residing in regions on the sea-coast, waited at the gate.

Sabha Parv, Mahabharat / Book II Chapter 47 mentions the Kings who brought tributes to Yudhishthir. ....Sakas were again mentioned in verse (II.47.26)....And the Sakas and and Tukhars and Kanks and Romas and men with horns bringing with them as tribute numerous large elephants and ten thousand horses, and hundreds and hundreds of millions of gold waited at the gate.

Sabha Parv, Mahabharat / Book II Chapter 48 mentions the Kings who brought tributes to Yudhishthir. ....Sakas were again mentioned in verse (II.48.15,16).... the Kukkurs, the Sakas, the Angs, the Vangs, the Pundrs, the Sanavatyas, and the Gayas --these good and well-born (Sujat) Kshatriyas distributed into regular clans and trained to the use of arms, brought tribute unto king Yudhishthir by hundreds and thousands.

Subjection by Nakul and Bhim: Nakul the son of Pandu reduced to subjection the fierce Malech residing on the sea coast, as also the wild tribes of the Palhavs, the Kirats, the Yavans, and the Sakas (2:31).

Bhim subjugated strategically the Sakas and the barbarians living in that part of the country. And the son of Pandu, sending forth expeditions from Videh, conquered the seven kings of the Kirats living about the Indra mountain. (2:29). These Sakas seems to be established in the north-east regions of Gangatic plain. These Sakas close to Videh was mentioned at (6:9) in the list of kingdoms of Bharat Varsh (Ancient India). Another colony of Sakas were mentioned close to the Nishadh Kingdom in central India.

In the Rajasuya sacrifice of Yudhisthir :

Van Parv, Mahabharat / Book III Chapter 48 describes Rajasuya sacrifice of Yudhisthir attended by the chiefs of many islands and countries....Sakas were mentioned in verse (III.48.20)....and all the kings of the West by hundreds, and all the chiefs of the sea-coast, and the kings of the Pahlavas and the Daradas and the various tribes of the Kiratas and Yavanas and Sakas.

Udyog Parv / Mahabharat Book V Chapter 19 mentions the Kings and tribes Who joined Yudhishthir for Kurukshetra war. Sakas were mentioned in verse (V.19.21)....And Sudakshin, Kambojs, Yavans and Sakas, came to the Kuru chief with an Akshauhini of troops.

Udyog Parv / Mahabharat Book V Chapter 158 tells..."Sanjay said, 'Having reached the Pandav camp, the Shakuni's son (Uluk) presented himself before the Pandavs, and addressing Yudhishthir....Sakas were mentioned in verse (V.158.20)........swarming with the kings of the East, West, South, and North, with Kambojs, Sakas, Khasas, Shalwas, Matsyas, Kurus of the middle country, Malechas, Pulinds, Dravids, Andhras, and Kanchis, indeed, with many nations, all addressed for battle, is uncrossable like the swollen tide of Ganga.

The Provinces of Sakas :

Bhism Parv, Mahabharat / Book VI Chapter 10 describes geography and provinces of Bharatvarsh....Sakas Province mentioned in verse (VI.10.43)........the Adirashtras, the Sukattas, the Balirashtras, the Kevals, the Vanarasyas, the Paravahs, the Vakrs, the Vakrabhayas, the Sakas.

Bhism Parv, Mahabharat / Book VI Chapter 10 describes geography and provinces of Bharatvarsh....Sakas Province again mentioned in verse (VI.10.50)........the Sakas, the Nishads, the Nishadhs, the Anarts, the Nairits, the Duguls, the Pratimatshyas, the Kushal and the Kunatals.

The preparation of Mahabharata War :

Bhism Parv, Mahabharat / Book VI Chapter 20 describes Warriors in Bhism's division...Sakas are mentioned in verse (VI.20.13)........And Saradwat's son, that fighter in the van, that high-souled and mighty bowman, called also Gautam and Chitrayudh, conversant with all modes of warfare, accompanied by the Sakas, the Kirats, the Yavans, and the Pahlavs, took up his position at the northern point of the army.

Bhism Parv, Mahabharat / Book VI Chapter 52 describes the order of army of the (Kuru) in Mahabharat War....Sakas are mentioned in verse (VI.52.7)........And Vind and Anuvind of Avanti, and the Kambojs with the Sakas, and the Sursens, O sire, formed its tail.

Karn Parv / Mahabharat Book VIII Chapter 51 describes terrible massacre on seventeenth day of Mahabharata War....Sakas are mentioned in verse (VIII. 51.18).......Of terrible deeds and exceedingly fierce, the Tushars, the Yavans, the Khass, the Darvabhisars, the Darads, the Sakas, the Kamathas, the Ramathas, the Tangans the Andhraks, the Pulinds, the Kirats of fierce prowess, the Malech, the Mountaineers, and the races hailing from the sea-side...have met with destruction.

They were also vanquished by Krishna:- The Sakas, and the Yavans with followers, were all vanquished by Krishna (7:11).

In Kurukshetra War: Words of Satyaki a commander in the side of Pandavs:- I shall have to encounter the Sakas endued with prowess equal to that of Sakra (Indra) himself, who are fierce as tire, and difficult to put out like a blazing conflagration.

In Kurukshetra War, the Sakas sided with the Kauravs under the Kamboj king Sudakshin.

Saka king was reckoned by Drupada in his list of kings to be summoned for the cause of Pandavs in Kurukshetr War (5:4). Sudakshin, the king of the Kambhojs, accompanied by the Yavans and Sakas, came to the Kuru chief with an Akshauhini of troops (5:19). The Sakas, the Kirats, and Yavans, the Sivis and the Vasatis with their Maharaths at the heads of their respective divisions joined the Kaurav army (5:198). The Sakas, the Kirats, and Yavans and the Pahlavs, took up his position at the northern point of the army (6:20).

Of terrible deeds and exceedingly fierce, the Tushars, the Yavans, the Khasas, the Darvabhisars, the Darads, the Sakas, the Kamaths, the Ramaths, the Tangans the Andhraks, the Pulinds, the Kirats of fierce prowess, the Malechs, the Parvats, and the races hailing from the sea-side, all endued with great wrath and great might, delighting in battle and armed with maces, these all united with the Kurus (8:73).

Yavans were armed with bow and arrows and skilled in smiting. They were followed by Sakas and Darads and Barbars and Tamraliptaks, and other countless Malechs (7:116). Three thousand bowmen headed by Duryodhan, with a number of Sakas and Kambojs and Valhiks and Yavans and Parads, and Kalings and Tangans and Amvashts and Pisachs and Barbars and Parvats, inflamed with rage and armed with stone, all rushed against Satyaki (7:118).

Sakas were mentioned along with other tribes like the Sudras, the Abhiras, the Daserakas, the Yavans, the Kambojs, the Hangsapads, the Parads, the Vahliks, the Samsthans, the Sursens, the Veniks, the Kukkurs, the Rechaks, the Trigarts, the Madraks, the Tushars and the Chuliks as battling on the side of Kaurava at various passages. (6:51,75,88, 7:20,90).

A number of Saka and Tukhar and Yavan horsemen, accompanied by some of the foremost combatants among the Kambojs, quickly rushed against Arjun (8:88). All the Samsaptaks, the Kambojs together with the Sakas, the Malech, the Parvats, and the Yavans, have also been slain by Arjun (9:1).

Sakas after Kurukshetra War: A passage which is rendered as a futuristic prediction in Mahabharat mentions thus:- The Sakas, the Pulinds, the Yavans, the Kambojs, the Valhiks and the Abhirs, will then become possessed of bravery and the sovereignty of the whole earth (3:187).

Sakadwip :

Bhisma Parv, Mahabharata/Book VI Chapter 12 writes about Sakadwipa. Mahabharata mentions about a whole region inhabited by Sakas called Sakadwipa to the north-west of ancient India. Sakadwipa is surrounded on all sides by the ocean. There are seven mountains that are decked with jewels and that are mines of gems, precious stones. These were - 1. Meru, 2. Malaya, 3. Jaladhara, 4. Raivataka, 5.Syama (Dark Mountain), 6. Durgasaila, 7. Kesari.

There are seven Varshas in that island corresponding to each mountain - 1. Mahakasa of Meru, 2. Kumudottara of Malaya, 3. Sukumara of Jaladhara , 4. Kaumara of Raivataka, 5. Manikanchana of Syama, 6. Mahapuman of Durgasaila, 7. Mandaki of Kesari.

In the midst of that island is a large tree called Saka.

The rivers there are full of sacred water, these are - 1. Ganga, 2. Sukumari, 3. Kumari, 4. Seta, 5. Keveraka, 6. Mahanadi, 7. Manijala, 8. Chakshus, 9. Vardhanik.

There, in that region of Saka, are four sacred provinces. They are 1. Mrigs, 2.Masaks, 3. Manas, and 4. Mandags. The Mrigs for the most part are Brahmans devoted to the occupations of their order. Amongst the Masaks are virtuous Kshatriyas. The Manass live by following the duties of the Vaishya order. Having every wish of theirs gratified, they are also brave and firmly devoted to virtue and profit. The Mandags are all brave Shudras of virtuous behaviour.

There in that region are, many delightful provinces where Shiv is worshipped, and thither repair the Siddhs, the Charans, and the Devs. The people there are virtuous, and all the four orders are devoted to their respective occupation. No instance of theft can be seen there. Freed from decrepitude and death and gifted with long life, the people there grow like rivers during the season of rains.

In these provinces there is no king, no punishment, no person that deserves to be punished. Conversant with the dictates of duty they are all engaged in the practice of their respective duties and protect one another. This much is capable of being said of the region called Saka.

The region called Sakadwipa is mentioned again at (12:14) as a region to the east of the great Meru mountains.

Jat History :

Prof. B.S. Dhillon Jats writes....Jats are the one component of a group of people known as the Scythians in the Western countries and Sakas in India. Diodorus (first century B.C.) wrote, "But now, in turn, we shall discuss the Scythians who inhabit the country bordering India. But some time later the descendants (Scythians) of these kings, because of their unusual valour and skill as generals, subdued much of the territory beyond the Tanais river (far eastern Europe) as far as Thrace (modern north of Greece), and advancing with their power as far as the Nile in Egypt. This people increased to great strength and had notable kings, one of whom gave his name to the Sacae (Sakas), another to the Massagetae ("great" Jats), another to the Arimaspi, and several other tribes". The recent edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica states "The Scythians were a people who during the 8th-7th centuries B.C. moved from Central Asia to Southern Russia, where they founded an empire that survived until they were gradually overcome and supplanted by the Sarmatians (another Scythian people) during the 4th century B.C. 2nd century A.D.".

Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria) writes that: Here we refer again to Varahamihir who gives somatometric traits or anthropometrical description of five great men Hans, Sasa, Rucak, Bhadra and Malavya to serve as specimen.

Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria) writes that: Sasa, (Sese, Sse, Saso, Sasaka, Sakas), slightly projecting and thin teeth, thin nails, large eyeballs, fleshy cheek, too much narrow and slender waist, not very stout, age 70 years and is said to be a border-chief (Pratyantik) or vassal (Mandalik) with height, span and girth of 99 angulas or 72.9 inches each.

During first century A.D., Aspavarman, son of Vijayamitra and grandson of Indravardhan is said to have been the Viceroy of Azes II in a district of north-western India but later served under Gondopharnes, followed by his nephew Sasa, who later served Pacores successor of Gandopharnes190. Most probably the Sasa family Was from Indo-Parthian who were undoubtedly a section of the Scythians, who were also known as Sasa, Sese, Sse, Sasak or Sakas in history. Even row the Jats call the north-western frontier people as Sasse and Khakkhai (Afghans and Pathans). Prof. E.J. Rapson191 refers to a number of Sasa Strategoi (senapatis), the suffixes like 'Varman' and 'Daua 'in whose names show that they were Hinduised Saka chiefs under the Parthian rulers of N.W. India. Interestingly, there are Shak, Sakwan, Saklan, Sheshwan, Madra-Maderna, Mall, Malli and Hans gotras (tribes) in the Jats as well as Ros or Rosai (Rucak) in them. The Sasas may be later Sasodias.

Identity of Jats with the Sakas :

Bhim Singh Dahiya writes...Reference is invited to the map facing this page. The only change that we have made in this map is to give the names of the rivers and the seas which were not given in the original. In this map the Sakas are shown above Alexandria and north of Sogdian and to the east of Massagetae and the Aral Sea. Between the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea, are shown the Dahae. Scythians are shown on the Danube and the Don rivers, towards west of the Black Sea. There is general agreement amongst the historians that the Indo-Iranian Sakas and the European Scythians were the same. The classical Greek writers mention the Sakas as Sakai and Sacae. Ptolemy mentions them as Indo-Scythians after their arrival in India. H.H. Wilson mentions the same in his commentary on the Vishnu Purana. Writing about the Jats of pre-partition Punjab, Hewitt says, "Their very name connects them with the Getae of Thrace and hence with the Guttons said by Pytheas to live on the southern shores of the Baltic, the Guttons placed by Ptolemy and Tacitus, on the Vistula in the country of Lithuanians, and the Goths of Gothland in Sweden. This Scandinavian descent is confirmed by their system of land tenure called Bhayyachara." This proof of custom is very important, because this Bhayyachara or Bhaichara system is exclusively a Jat system, and is not found anywhere else. Further the Indo-Scythians, the Kusans, etc. are known to shave their heads, a custom still prevalent among the Indian Jats who have not adopted Sikhism. Again, the rule of primogeniture was never followed by the Jats and there is conclusive evidence that the Scythians also divided their assets equally among all the sons. According to Herodotus, among the races of Thrace (modern Bulgaria), the Getae were the bravest and most upright. They were fond of music. They had an old custom of appointing family genealogists and thus perpetuating the history of their race and tribe in the form of mythic genealogy. This custom is very familiar to, and still practised by,

[p.27]: the Jats in India. The Pandas/Bhatas from Hardwar, Mathura, etc. or the Mirasis, even now record the genealogy of the Jats and recite it, sitting on the housetops on important occasions of the particular family. We have mentioned a few identical customs in order to meet the objection that a similarity of names is no proof of identity.

Now back to the citations of authority. According to The Historians' History of the World, Scythians was the name of those tribes of central Asia and northern Europe who always invaded their neighbouring races. Scythia is described as an ancient country which extended from the east of the Caspian Sea and the valley of rivers Jihon and Sihon (Amu Darya & Sir Darya) to the rivers Danube and the Dan. They invaded Greece and occupied Athens. They are named by Homer and the Hesiod. Known as milkdrinkers, warfare was their profession. Thucydides says that they were so many in numbers and so dreadful, that if they were united, they were irresistible. Diodorus says that Massa-Getae were the descendants of Scythians. This shows that the Scythians/Sakas were spread from the west of the Black Sea to the east of the Aral Sea. Alongwith the Sakas, the Massagetae are shown, in the map (as residing in 500 B.C.) on the Aral Sea on its eastern side. Dahae are shown as inhabiting the regions to the south of the Aral Sea and east of the Caspian Sea. Though these tribes are shown separately under different names, they are from the same race, i.e., Jat race. Dahae, also mentioned in the Vishnu Purana, are the modern Dahiya Jats in India. They are the same as Dahae of Ptolemy and the Tahia (Dahia) of the Chinese.

Descent of the Sakas from Narishyant :

Hukum Singh Panwar (Pauria) writes....The Purans, Pargiter, Pandey Shafer and Pusalker also corroborate the descent of the Sakas from Narishyant. According to Wilson, as already noted, these very Sakas (Scythians) were the Haihayas of James Tod. Archaeological evidence and the descent of the Sakas from the Aiksvaka Aryan king Narishyant of the Solar race of Vaisali, indisputably attest that they were Aryans, and this is recognised by Kephart, C.V. Vaidya and others also. They were expelled by Sagar to north western countries after their defeat at Ayodhya where they, in league with the Yadus, Worsted Bahu, father of Sagar, in a previous battle.

Kipin :

Vijayendra Kumar Mathur has written ... Kipin (AS, p.189) Ancient historians of China have mentioned this region of India many times. According to Chinese history Sean Hanshu (Thien Han Schu) Saiwang or suspect called race Ucion (Uchi = Hrisik) by continued state came Kipin country in South removed from their place of residence (give. Journal of the Asiatic Society, 1903, p. 22) Kipin in not Silvnlevi K of Chinese In the but according to Stenkono Auburn or eastern Gandhara Chinese writers said Kipin (See Apigrafik Indica 16, p. 291). Chinese traveler Sungayun has also mentioned Kippin. Kipin Kubha (= Kabul) can also be adapted.

Shaksthan :

President Vijender Kumar Mathur has articles that .... Sksthan trucks original habitat that Iran was located in the north-western part of the transitional state. It is called Sistan. Shaksthan is mentioned in Maha-Mayuri, the Chandravalli proposal article of Mathura Singh-stambha-Kadambanareesh Mayursharman. The words of the Mathura-inscription are - 'Sarvas Sakastanas Puye' which means, according to Cunningham, 'the virtue of the inhabitants of Shakstan'. Shakstan was based in Iran in the opinion of Rai Chaudhary (Political History of Uncontent India, p. 526) and the former men of Shakvanshi Chashtan and Rudradaman, Gujarat - Kathiawar I had settled from this place.

The Shaks are mentioned in the Ramayan ('Swamasit Sankrantabhumi: Shakryavanamishrita:' Balakand 54,21; 'Kambhojayayavanam Shiva-Shaknampattananich' Kishkindha 23,12 Mahabharat ('Pahlavan Barbaranshishtva Kiratanavanavanchakandra') "'10,44 and Mahabhashya (see Indian Antiquary 1857, p. 244) are in the texts.

Shakvansh :

Shakvansh - Vedic wealth writer Pt. Raghunandan Sharma has written on page 424 that Ikshvaku, Narishyant (Narhari) etc. were the 10 sons of Vaivasvata Manu. Citing Vishnu Purana and Harivansh, this writer has written that only the names of Narishyant's sons are suspicious. The union of Kshatriya Aryans named after him by his fame is called Shakvansh, which is a Jat dynasty. The emperor avenged the defeat ofhis father Bahu by defeating the enemies in such a way that he expelled the Shaks, Parades, Yavans and Pahlavas from his country. The Saka peoplewent outof Aryavart to populate a country which wascalled Shakvastha in their name,whichwasnamed Sibthia.

Saka Jat in Sithia and Central Asia :

According to the above description of Dalip Singh Ahlawat, the name Sethia Desh was named after Shak Jats. After the Mahabharat war, the kingdom of these people has been written in Sithia and Central Asia.

Historians are of the same opinion that Indo-Iranian suspicion and European Scythians were the same. Greek historians of the majority of the people doubt the Sakai and Skay wrote.

Author Patolemi has written these people Indo-Scythian after coming to India.

Sithia was an ancient country that stretched from the Caspian Sea and the valley of the Amu Darya and Sir Darya to the intermediate countries of the Danube and Don rivers. The Scythians were the names of those castes in Central Asia and Northern Europe that invaded their neighboring castes (Historian's History of the World, Vol. II, P. 400).

These Scythians (Shaks) invaded Greece and captured Athens. Historians Homer and Hesiod have also written about these people that they were milk drinkers and war was their business. The famous Greek historian Thucydides has written about these Scythian Jats that "there was no caste (nation) in Asia or Europe that could stand against the Sithian Jats " ( Untikity of Jat Race p. 47 author Utsang Singh Mahil).

Thucydides writes that "they were so numerous and so terrible that no one could stop them whenever they were united." Similarly, the famous Greek historian Herodotus , who has been called the father of history and could not compete with them in race bravery of the world when there was unity in "Jat per statement of other historians." historian Diudorus ( Diodorus ) writes that " in Sagetai people were descendants of Sithiynjh. The Scythians / Shaks extended from the west of the Black Sea to the east of the Aral Sea. In Thresh country, which was a province of Sithia country (present-day Bulgaria), it was ruled by Goethe (Jats). ”HerodotusIt is written that among the castes of [Thrace | Thrace], the Jats were the most brave and honest. He was a lover of singing. He was the most superior and justified among the other castes.

BC Aggarwal has cited the book "India Azon to Panini pp. 68-69" that "many Saka clans (castes) are still found in Jats". The Shaks came to India before the time of Panini Rishi and their second wave came to India in the second century BCE and after that the Kushan people came. The Shaks of Central Asia built the Vapi or Stepped Well and the Arghatt (Persian wheel). Names of places or cities in which the end bulb seems like they all suspected persons began - Smrknd, Tashkent, Yarknd, etc. (HW Bailey, ASLCA, Transaction of Philological Society, 1945, PP 22, 33).

Jats move to Europe :

Thakur Deshraj wrote .... Hun invasion of time Jgajartis and Akss rivers and the Caspian Sea, the Jat settled on the shores of Europe headed. At the time when the Huns were in turmoil in the Asian countries, the Jat people in Europe.

[P.154]: Strikes. Because the Huns, like the storm, had uprooted the Jats from their places. The Jat groups first occupied Scandinavia and Germany. Colonel Tod, Mr. Pinkerton, Mr. Jnstrn, Digain , Pliny many European writers etc. His Germany, Scandinavia, Room, Spain, cheeks, Jtland and Italy have described to invade others. Nowhere in these descriptions, Zeta, far jetty, and elsewhere goth Called by name. Because all these groups of conquering Jats had advanced from the shores of Iran and Ka Caspian sea to Europe. That is why in European countries they have also been remembered as Shak and Scythian. Iran is called Shakdweep. So residents of Iran suspects were called. European historians say that the independent states of Germany, which are called Saxon states. Same doubt are of Jats. Those princely states were established by the winning Jats. We believe and also believe that he went from Jat Shakdweep itself. But the European writers want to sit in the mind so much that they went from India to Jat in Shal-Island. And they were among the dynasties who are known as Ram, Krishna and Yadu Kurus.

The Jats who had gone to Europe not only established states but they also taught Europe something.

[P.155]: He had taught Europe all these things by getting up from the bath, worshiping God, worshiping the sword and horse, cultivating peace, working with buffaloes. He also erected victory pillars at many places. His column along the banks of the Rhine River in Germany was quite famous.

These victorious sons of Mother India had followed Vedic religion for a long time even after going to Europe. But circumstances finally forced him to be a Christian.

The summary of the mater received in connection with their rituals and ceremonies is as follows :

• The Jats along the banks of Jehoon and Jagjartis used to perform big ceremonies on every solstice.

Victorious Attila Jat leader said Allen was celebrated Kdag worship with great ceremony in the castle.

• The Jats of Germany wore long and loose clothes and tied a head of hair like a tuft on the head.

• The camps and the Shaivite Jats of Scandinavia worshiped Hargauri and Dharmati. On the festival, they sing songs praising Harikulesh and Buddh.

[P. 156]:

• His flag had a picture of Balram's plow. In the war, they used shul (spearhead) and mugdar (mace).

He used to give great importance to the consent of his women during the time of calamity.

• Their women often considered it good to be sati.

• They did not consider the visiting people as slaves. He did not consider it his duty to accept his good things.

• At the time of the fight, he used to think that Yoginis come to the battlefield with blood.

These descriptions of the brave Jats make our chests to bloom with joy and force us to cry with heart. The Jat world is not even aware of the fame of those world-winning heroes.

Source :

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